World in Focus (JUL-AUG 2021)

National & International With MCQs

July 16: Pakistan’s ten-year old Haniya Minhas won the 14 & Under Sobir Cup Asian Tennis Federation Tournament in Dushanbe (Tajikistan).
July 16: Veteran actress Sultana Zafar passed away at age 66.
July 16: The Federal Higher Education Commission (FHEC) extended the implementation period of HEC Undergraduate Policy 2020 (Associate Degree Programme) and PhD policy for one year.
July 16: The US Chargé d’ Affaires to Pakistan, Angela Aggeler, called on Chief of the Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa (COAS Bajwa) at the General Headquarters (GHQ).
July 16: The United States, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan announced a new Quad Regional Support group for Afghanistan peace process.
July 16: Prime Minister Imran Khan (PMIK), while addressing the conference on “Central and South Asia Regional Connectivity, Challenges and Opportunities,” held in Tashkent, asked Afghanistan to consider Pakistan as a “partner of peace” rather than blaming it for the ongoing unrest, which he said was the “outcome of using a military solution by the United States instead of a political one.”
July 16: While addressing the Industrial Ministerial Conference of SCO member states through a video link , Federal Minister for Industries & Production, Makhdum Khusro Bakhtyar proposed to establish Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Development Bank for the development of member states on the same footing of International Financial Cooperation (IFC).
July 16: The Senate passed another FATF-related bill.
July 16: The federal government appointed Mr Jawaid Siddiqi the chief executive officer (CEO) of the Pakistan Railways Freight Transportation Company (PRFTC).
July 16: The Managing Director of Utility Stores Corporation (USC), Umer Lodhi, resigned.
July 17: Sindh cabinet decided to amend the police rules under which an accused could not be arrested without credible evidence.
July 17: Veteran actress Naila Jaffery passed away.
July 17: The competent authority disapproved notification of employment contract termination of Dasu Hydro Power Project issued by China Gezhouba Group Company (CGGC).
July 17: Some unidentified people ‘abducted’ Afghan Ambassador Najeebullah Alikhail’s daughter Silsila Alikhil.
July 18: Former chief minister Sindh Sardar Mumtaz Ali Bhutto passed away at the age of 92.
About Mumtaz Bhutto
Chief of the Bhutto tribe, Mumtaz Bhutto, was born on 29 November 1933, in village Peer Bakhsh Bhutto in Larkana. He got his initial education from St. George’s College in Missouri, in India. He later joined the Lawrence College, in Murree, and went on to complete his bar at law from Lincoln’s Inn, in the UK. He did his Masters in 1959 from the University of Oxford. In March 1965, at the age of 32 years, he was elected a member of the National Assembly. When Zulfikar Ali Bhutto formed the People’s Party on March 30, 1967, he became a founder member of PPP. In the 1970 election, he contested election against Qazi Fazlullah and won the election. On December 24, 1971, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto (who had been calling him as Talent Cousin) had posted him governor of Sindh and then the Chief Minister of Sindh on May 1, 1972. In the elections held on January 7, 1977, he was once again elected a member of the National Assembly. In 1977, Z A Bhutto appointed him the president of the People’s Party Sindh. Following the death of Bhutto, he parted ways with the PPP and launched his own party, the Sindh National Front (SNF), and contested many elections on its platform. In 1996, President Farooq Leghari after dismissing a Benazir Bhutto’s government had posted him as caretaker chief minister of Sindh. Mumtaz Bhutto joined PMIK by merging his own party with the in 2017. Later he disassociated himself from the PTI as well over differences with Imran Khan on ‘neglecting’ Sindh’s issues.
July 18: Sindh government launched ‘Library in Each Union Council’ project under the Local Government Department.
July 18: The newly-appointed ombudsman of Balochistan, Nazar Mohammad Baloch, took the oath of his office.
July 18: Pakistan completed its presidency of the UN Economic and Social Council (Ecosoc).
July 19: Chaudhry Moonis Elahi took oath as a federal minister for water resources.
July 19: The National Institute of Health was conferred with the ‘Directors Award’ for their contribution in the field of epidemiology and public health emergency response.
July 20: UET, Lahore, appointed Dr Saima Yasin as its first female professor of engineering.
About Dr Saima Yasin
Prof Dr Saima has an illustrious academic career. She graduated from the UET with BSc and MSc degrees in Chemical Engineering in January 2005 and April 2007, respectively. During her bachelor studies, she was a recipient of the NFC Scholarship award. She joined her alma mater as lecturer soon after completing her BSc degree in 2005. Dr Saima proceeded to the UK in 2008 to pursue a PhD degree from Imperial College London. She earned her PhD degree in June 2011. She also spent time at Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), Brazil, as a post-doctoral research scholar. On her return to the university after PhD, Dr Saima was appointed Assistant Professor in September 2011. She was appointed the first Associate Professor in Engineering at UET Lahore in 2015. She has published 36 research papers.
July 20: President Dr Arif Alvi signed Senior Citizen Bill, 2021, for Islamabad and Enforcement of Women’s Property Rights (Amendment) Bill, 2021.
July 20: Noor Mukadam, 27, the daughter of former diplomat Shaukat Mukadam, was killed by Zahir Jaffar in Islamabad.
July 21: A son of Hameed Nizami, the founder of the Nawa-i-Waqt, former caretaker minister for information and postal services and seasoned journalist Arif Nizami passed away.
July 23: Punjab Health Minister Dr Yasmin Rashid announced complete reinvigoration of the Blood Transfusion Authority and Institute of Blood Transfusion Services.
July 24: The London-based PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif met Afghan National Security Adviser (NSA) Hamdullah Mohib and State Minister for Peace Sayed Sadat Naderi, attracting wide criticism in Pakistan.
July 24: FM Qureshi and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi discussed bilateral strategic, economic and security cooperation, besides global and regional issues.
July 25: Elections to AJK Legislative Assembly were held in which PTI emerged as the majority party.
July 25: The United States of America (USA) remained the top export destination of Pakistani products during the fiscal year (2020-21), followed by United Kingdom (UK) and China, according to the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP).
July 26: KP Health Minister Hasham Inam Ullah resigned.
July 26: Bodies of Pakistani mountaineer Ali Sadpara, Iceland’s John Snorri and Chile’s Juan Pablo Mohr were found.
July 26: Pak Army provided refuge and safe passage into Pakistan to 46 Afghan soldiers including five officers after they were unable to hold their posts on the Pak-Afghan border due to the security situation in Afghanistan.
July 26: The second consignment of 3 million doses of Moderna (mRNA-1273) Covid-19 vaccines donated by the United States to the Covax Facility arrived in Pakistan.
July 27: The federal cabinet approved the country’s first national cyber security policy.
July 27: Chief Minister Punjab Sardar Usman Buzdar formally launched the Apprenticeship Act, 2021, to provide training to the youth in the industrial sector while the certification will be done by TEVTA. This act would provide on-job training to the youth.
July 27: PMIK appointed Jawad Paul as registrar of the Supreme Court.
July 27: Nineteen-year-old Pakistani mountaineer, Shehroze Kashif, became the youngest person to summit the world’s second highest mountain, K2. Kashif now holds an additional record of being the youngest person to have scaled both K2 and Everest.
July 28: The PTI candidate Ahsan Saleem emerged victorious in the PP-38 Sialkot by-election.
July 28: PMIK appointed former CM Sindh Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim his special assistant on Sindh affairs.
July 28: The US and Pakistan announced to forge collaboration on addressing climate change to mitigate and adapt adverse impacts of environmental degradation.
July 28: The Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) approved the elevation of Justice Mohammad Ali Mazhar, who was fifth on the seniority list of Sindh High Court, to the Supreme Court.
July 29: Adviser to PMIK on Institutional Reforms and Austerity, Dr Ishrat Hussain, resigned from his post.
July 29: The Ministry of Human Rights appointed Nilofar Bakhtiar the chairperson of the National Commission on the Status of Women (NCSW).
July 30: The government promoted two officers of the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) – to the rank of air marshal.
July 31: Federal Board of Investment (BoI) Pakistan, the apex agency mandated to promote and facilitate foreign and local investment in the country, appointed Mitsubishi Pakistan CEO Kimihide Ando as an Honorary Investment Counsellor (HIC) in Japan.
Aug. 01: Syed Muhammad Aqeel Hussain, the press attaché at the French embassy in Islamabad, was awarded one of the highest civil French accolades – French National Order of Merit – over his 33 years of service at the embassy.
Aug. 01: SAPM on Poverty Alleviation and Social Protection, Dr Sania Nishtar, inaugurated the Pak-Korea Nutrition Centre (PKNC) at the University of Agriculture Faisalabad.
Aug. 03: Al-Shifa Trust opened Asia’s biggest children eye hospital in Rawalpindi with a capacity of treating one hundred and fifty thousand children annually.
Aug. 03: The World Bank reallocated $150 million (Rs24.27) for Pakistan to procure Covid-19 vaccines.
Aug. 03: Lt-Gen (retd) Asim Saleem Bajwa tendered his resignation as the Chairman CPEC Authority.
Aug. 03: PMIK appointed Khalid Mansoor his Special Assistant on CPEC Affairs.
Aug. 03: Ministry of Climate Change (MoCC) under the Prime Minister’s Clean and Green Pakistan vision successfully launched six multifaceted initiatives to enhance climate resilience, adaptation and mitigation capacity of the country to revert drastic impacts of environmental degradation.
Aug. 03: The 49 newly-elected members of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Legislative Assembly were sworn in.
Aug. 03: PTI’s Anwarul Haq and Chaudhry Riaz Gujjar were elected as Speaker and Deputy Speaker of AJK Assembly.
Aug. 03: Pakistan maintained their winning streak over the West Indies as the scheduled final encounter of the four-match Twenty20 International series was abandoned due to rain.
Aug. 04: Sardar Abdul Qayyum Niazi was sworn in as the 13th prime minister of AJK at the President House. President Sardar Masood Khan administered the oath.
Aug. 04: Co-organised by Pakistani Embassy in Beijing and China Film Administration, and hosted by China Film Archive, the first, ever Pakistan Film Week kicked off in Beijing, China.
Aug. 04: Asif Mehdi, son of Ghazal maestro Mehdi Hassan, passed away.
Aug. 05: CM Sindh Syed Murad Ali Shah expanded his cabinet by inducting four more ministers, three advisers and 13 special assistants, ballooning the cabinet size to 51.
Aug. 05: Two years of India’s illegal and unilateral acts of August 5, 2019, and brutalities against unarmed Kashmiris were observed as Youm-e-Istehsal (Day of Exploitation) in occupied Jammu and Kashmir, across Pakistan, Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), and various parts of the world where Kashmiris and Pakistanis are living currently.
Aug. 05: Sindh government appointed Barrister Murtaza Wahab, the new Administrator of the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation.
Aug. 05: Former prime minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif’s application for extension in stay in the UK was turned down by the Home Office.
Aug. 05: Chairman Senate Muhammad Sadiq Sanjrani, who was representing Pakistan at the swearing-in ceremony of Ebrahim Raisi, met the new Iranian President who assured him that the obstacles towards promotion of regional trade with Pakistan would be removed and problems faced in uninterrupted supply of electricity to areas of Balochistan would be resolved immediately.
Aug. 05: Three recently confirmed judges of the Peshawar High Court – Justice Sahibzada Asadullah, Justice Mohammad Naeem Anwar and Justice Wiqar Ahmad – were administered oath by Chief Justice Qaiser Rashid Khan.
Aug. 06: Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan resigned from the office of special assistant to chief minister Punjab for information.
Aug. 06: Aun Chaudhry, who was serving as coordinator to CM Punjab, submitted his resignation.
Aug. 06: The inaugural Kashmir Premier League (KPL) Twenty20 tournament kicked off.
Aug. 07: Former federal law minister, Ch. Wasi Zafar, died.
Aug. 07: The OIC delegation comprising members of Independent Permanent Human Rights Commission visited the Line of Control in Chirikot sector.
Aug. 09: Chief Justice of Pakistan, Justice Gulzar Ahmed, administered the oath of office to Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail, chief justice of Balochistan High Court, as judge of the Supreme Court.
Aug. 09: PMIK inaugurated the world’s biggest Miyawaki urban forest in Lahore.
Aug. 09: Pakistan Navy war game Shamsheer-i-Bahr VIII commenced in Karachi.
Aug. 10: Barring Afghanistan with score of 0.421, Pakistan (0.517) was ranked lowest among all the regional and neighbouring countries on Youth Development Index.
Aug. 10: The Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) approved the elevation of Sindh High Court (SHC) Chief Justice (CJ) Ahmed Ali Sheikh as an ad hoc judge of the Supreme Court for a period of one year.
Aug. 10: The ADB appointed Yong Ye to lead ADB’s operations in Pakistan and manage its Pakistan Resident Mission in Islamabad.
Aug. 10: COAS Gen Bajwa and US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin discussed the ongoing situation in Afghanistan amid an escalation of violence in the war-torn country.
Aug. 10: Balochistan Chief Minister Jam Kamal Khan Alyani laid the foundation stone of the Winder Dam.
Aug. 10: Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Prime Minister Sardar Abdul Qayyum Niazi replaced his principal secretary Ehsan Khalid Kiani with Zafar Mahmood Khan.
Aug. 10: PTI MPA Malik Asad Khokhar was sworn in as provincial minister in Punjab.
Aug. 11: Iraqi Foreign Minister Dr Fuad Hussein visited Pakistan. He assured Pakistan of introducing a new visa policy for Pakistani pilgrims aimed at facilitating their visits to the holy sites in Iraq.
Aug. 11: Habib Nawaz Inqilab, a noted Pashto poet and research scholar, became KP’s first visually impaired person recommended for the award of PhD degree.
Aug. 11: Pakistan’s Helena Iqbal Saeed, Additional Inspector General (AIG) of Police in the country, was appointed the first-ever Pakistani woman to UN Police Commissioner’s slot in the Sudanese capital Khartoum. She is the first-ever AIG from Quetta, Balochistan, for this rank and the first one to reach flag rank in the history of Police Service of Pakistan. Another notable factor is that Helena comes from a Christian background.
Aug. 12: Veteran actress Durdana Butt passed away. She was 83.
Aug. 12: Pakistan made a new Guinness World Record by planting over 52,000 saplings in 40 seconds. Some 12,500 students planted over 50,000 saplings in an area between Rawalpindi Bypass and Chan Da Qila Bypass after sirens were played. As many as 47 drone-cameras recorded the activity. Previously, Bhutan, in 2015, had set the world record of planting 49,672 saplings in less than one minute.
Aug. 12: Pakistan conducted a training launch of surface-to-surface ballistic missile Ghaznavi.
Aug. 12: PMIK inaugurated the Intercropping Research Center jointly established by Sichuan Agricultural University (SAU) and the Islamia University of Bahawalpur (IUB).
Aug. 13: The Asia Pacific Group (APG) on Money Laundering improved Pakistan’s rating on four more of the 40 technical recommendations of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) against money laundering and terror financing (AML/CFT) but retained it on ‘Enhanced Follow up’ to meet the outstanding requirements.
Aug. 13: Punjab Minister for Prisons Fayyaz Al Hassan Chauhan was appointed the new spokesperson of the Punjab government.
Aug. 14: Pakistan became exporter of 4G smartphones when it sent its first-ever shipment tagged ‘Manufactured in Pakistan’ to the United Arab Emirates.
Aug. 15: The presidents of Pakistan and Turkey participated in the launch of the first Milgem Class Corvette for Pakistan Navy at the Istanbul Naval Shipyard (INSY).

July 16: Prof. Dr Akira Miyawaki, a Japanese botanist and expert in plant ecology, specializing in seeds and the study of natural forests, passed away.
July 16: Lebanon’s Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri stepped down over key differences with the president.
July 16: Reuters journalist Danish Siddiqui was killed while covering a clash between Afghan security forces and Taliban fighters near Spin Boldak.
July 16: The UK High Court of Justice ruled that Pakistan cannot be taken off the Red List until the UK government takes a decision on the travel ban to the Red List countries.
July 17: Tadej Pogacar became champion of the 2021 Tour de France.
July 17: West Indies beat Australia in the final T20 International of their five-match T20 series to clinch the series 4-1.
July 17: American rapper, DJ and producer Biz Markie, who shot to fame with his 1989 hit “Just a Friend”, died, aged 57.
July 17: President Bashar al-Assad took the oath of office for a fourth term in war-ravaged Syria.
July 17: World championship leader Max Verstappen won Formula One’s inaugural sprint race to take pole position for the British Grand Prix.
July 17: The United States, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan set up an alliance known as Five-Plus-One and pledged to work together to end the Afghan conflict.
July 18: American golfer Collin Morikawa won the British Open as he became the first player to win two different majors on debut.
July 18: Indian Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar admitted that the Narendra Modi government ensured that Pakistan was included in the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) grey list.
July 18: Afghanistan recalled its ambassador to Islamabad and other senior diplomats over “security threats”.
July 18: Lewis Hamilton won the British Grand Prix for the eighth time.
July 18: An OPEC+ meeting was held in Vienna where the world’s leading oil producers agreed to continue to modestly boost output from August.
July 18: The Western University of Ontario, Canada, announced setting up two scholarships in honour of Salman Afzaal and Madiha Salman, the couple killed along with two other family members in an attack in Ontario on June 6.
July 19: French President Emmanuel Macron decorated veteran American civil rights activist Reverend Jesse Jackson with France’s highest order of merit, the Legion of Honour.
July 19: In his Haj sermon, Sheikh Bandar Bin Abdulaziz Balila said the Prophet (PBUH) had advised people against visiting an area hit by plague and urged the Muslim Ummah to follow the Prophet’s (PBUH) teachings in this regard.
July 20: At least three rockets landed near the Afghan presidential palace as the country’s leader Ashraf Ghani offered outdoor prayers with top officials to mark the start of the Eid ul Azha holiday.
July 20: The sport of ski mountaineering was included in the programme for the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy’s Milan and Cortina D’Ampezzo following approval by the International Olympic Committee.
July 20: The Olympic motto “Faster, Higher, Stronger” (Citius, Altius, Fortius) was updated to “Faster, Higher, Stronger — Together” (“Citius, Altius, Fortius — Communiter.”).
July 20: The foundation that finances and organises the Nobel Prizes announced that it had sold off its oil sector assets, after also withdrawing from the coal industry.
July 20: Ariel Henry was appointed the new Prime Minister of Haiti.
July 21: Liverpool was removed from the list of UNESCO World Heritage sites after being granted the title in 2004.
July 21: US president Joe Biden authorized 100 million USD from an emergency fund to meet the refugee needs which is stemming from the geo-political situation in Afghanistan.
July 22: Former UN rights chief Navi Pillay was appointed to lead the United Nations’ open-ended inquiry into “systematic” abuses in Israel and the Palestinian territories.
July 23: Chinese President Xi Jinping reached China’s politically sensitive region of Tibet on a rare trip, the first such visit by the country’s top leader in more than three decades.
July 23: A majority of lawmakers in Sierra Leone’s parliament voted to abolish the death penalty.
July 23: China announced sanctions on seven American citizens and entities in response to a US advisory on deteriorating freedoms in Hong Kong.
July 23: Australia garnered enough international support to defer for two years an attempt by Unesco to downgrade the Great Barrier Reef`s World Heritage status because of damage caused by climate change.
July 23: Energy and environment ministers from the Group of 20 rich nations failed to agree on the wording of a key climate change commitment in their final communiqué.
July 23: UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres appointed Mohammad Ashfaq Ahmed of Pakistan as member of the Committee of Experts on International Cooperation in Tax Matters for a term of four years.
July 23: Belated and beleaguered, the virus-delayed Tokyo Summer Olympics finally opened.
July 25: Greece opened its first underwater museum in the Aegean Sea.
July 25: Scottish actor Mike Mitchell, who starred in Gladiator and Braveheart, died. He was 65.
July 25: Otelo Saraiva de Carvalho, architect of the so-called Carnation Revolution that ended more than four decades of dictatorship in Portugal, died aged 84.
July 25: Tunisian President Kais Saied suspended parliament and dismissed Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi.
July 25: The twenty-eighth report of the Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team, submitted to the Security Council, revealed that Al-Qaeda is present in at least 15 Afghan provinces, primarily in the eastern, southern and southeastern regions.
July 26: Lebanese lawmakers tasked ex-premier and billionaire Najib Mikati with forming a government.
July 26: Danielle Collins of the United States became the WTA’s 14th first time champion of 2021.
July 27: Chile’s Chinchorro mummies, the oldest in the world to have been purposefully preserved by humans, were added to UNESCO’s World Heritage List.
July 27: Australia beat West Indies to clinch the three-match ODI series.
July 27: Former England bowler Mike Hendrick died, aged 72.
July 27: US President Joe Biden and Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi have sealed an agreement formally ending the US combat mission in Iraq by the end of 2021, more than 18 years after US troops were sent to the country.
July 28: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar met in New Delhi and sought to strengthen a regional front against Beijing’s assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific and their cooperation in Afghanistan.
July 28: Peru swore in new President Pedro Castillo, a leftist former teachers’ union leader.
July 28: A top-level Taliban delegation visited China where they assured Beijing the group would not allow Afghanistan to be used as a base for plotting against another country.
July 29: Russia has fined Google over $40,000 for failing to store the data of Russian users on local servers.
July 29: J Hotel unveiled its property in the Shanghai Tower, the tallest skyscraper in China and the second tallest building in the world.
July 30: The Russian and Uzbek armies kicked off joint military exercises at Uzbekistan’s border with Afghanistan.
July 30: Cricket Australia’s selection chair Trevor Hohns tendered his resignation.
July 30: The International Space Station (ISS) was thrown off track after the engines of the Russian Nauka, or ‘science’, research module roared into life about three hours after it had latched on.
July 31: US President Joe Biden appointed Pakistani-American lawyer Khizr Khan – also a critic of ex-president Donald Trump and the father of a soldier slain in Baghdad – the commissioner for the US Commission on International Religious Freedom
Aug. 01: George Bailey was named as the new chairman of selectors of the Australia men’s team.
Aug. 01: Ismail Haniya was re-elected as leader of the Palestinian group Hamas, cementing his control of the organisation which rules the besieged Gaza Strip.
Aug. 01: New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern formally apologised for an immigration crackdown, also known as the Dawn Raids, in the 1970s against Pacific Islanders.
Aug. 01: Myanmar’s junta chief announced that elections would be held and a state of emergency lifted by August 2023.
Aug. 01: India took over the presidency of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) from France for the month of August — India’s first during its 2021-22 tenure as a non-permanent member of the UNSC.
Aug. 02: South Sudan swore in 588 lawmakers to a newly-created national parliament.
Aug. 02: The EU imposed sanctions on Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega’s wife Rosario Murillo, who is his vice president, as well as one of his sons and six more officials.
Aug. 02: The United States claimed their seventh CONCACAF Gold Cup title with a thrilling win over defending champion Mexico.
Aug. 02: Australian Andrew Hoy became the oldest medallist at the Olympics since 1968 when he took silver in the equestrian eventing team competition at the Tokyo Games.
Aug. 03: Over 17,000 looted ancient artefacts recovered from the United States and other countries were handed over to Iraq’s Culture Ministry.
Aug. 05: New Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi was sworn in. The former judiciary chief officially began his four-year mandate on Aug. 03 when he was inaugurated by supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Aug. 05: President Joe Biden announced that Hong Kong citizens currently in the United States who fear for their safety amid the political crackdown back home will receive temporary safe haven.
Aug. 05: India conducted sea trials on its indigenous aircraft- carrier, the INS Vikrant.
Aug. 06: India and China pulled back troops from a flashpoint zone on their disputed border where they fought a deadly battle last year.
Aug. 06: The Taliban shut down the Chaman-Spin Boldak border crossing with Pakistan.
Aug. 06: Representatives from 195 countries approved a critical UN science report that will provide the most comprehensive and up-to-date assessment yet of the state of Earth’s climate.
Aug. 06: Bangladesh clinched their first-ever Twenty20 international series win over Australia.
Aug. 07: The US State Department added five alleged senior members of jihadist groups in Africa to its terror blacklist.
Aug. 07: Egypt transported the Pharaoh Khufu’s intact solar boat dating back some 4,600 years to the country’s soon-to-be-unveiled grand museum.
Aug. 08: The Tokyo 2020 Games were declared closed by IOC chief Thomas Bach.
Aug. 08: The Olympic flag was passed to Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo for the 2024 Games.
Aug. 08: Iran’s new ultraconservative President Ebrahim Raisi named Mohammad Mokhber, the chairman of a powerful state-owned foundation Setad — that is sanctioned by the United States — his first vice-president.
Aug. 09: One of Russia’s most famous human rights defenders and former Soviet dissident, Sergei Kovalev, died aged 91.
Aug. 09: US and UK governments levied new penalties against Belarus leader Alexander Lukashenko’s authoritarian regime.
Aug. 09: The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change issued its sixth Assessment Report whereby it said that drastic cuts to emissions are needed in order to hold the global temperature to under the 1.5°C (2.7°F) limits set by the 2015 Paris Agreement.
Aug. 09: Australia were bowled out for their lowest ever Twenty20 International total of 62 in a match against Bangladesh.
Aug. 10: The US Senate approved Joe Biden’s historic $1.2 trillion infrastructure plan.
Aug. 10: New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, facing possible impeachment over sexual harassment claims, announced his resignation.
Aug. 10: The Indian government shut its consulate in Mazar-i-Sharif, the biggest city in the north, and urged its diplomats and Indian citizens to take the special flight home.
Aug. 10: India and the United States signed an agreement on monsoon data analysis and cooperation to improve weather forecasts in the region.
Aug. 11: Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi presented his cabinet to parliament, nominating Hossein Amirabdollahian as his top diplomat amid talks with world powers to salvage a nuclear deal.
Aug. 11: Sudan announced to hand over longtime autocrat Omar Al-Bashir to the International Criminal Court along with other officials wanted over the Darfur conflict.
Aug. 12: The 11th Annual meeting of the Forum of the Election Management Bodies of South Asia (FEMBoSA) for the year 2021, hosted by the Election Commission of Bhutan, was held virtually.
Aug. 13: Author Anthony Horowitz became Japan’s most-decorated foreign crime author after winning the Best Mystery of the Decade award by Honkaku Mystery Writers Club.
Aug. 13: The Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (QUAD) included Taiwan, after G7, straight in talks.
Aug. 14: Poland’s president approved a law that will severely curb claims on properties seized after World War II, defying strong opposition from Israel and the United States.
Aug. 14: Non-Saudis, who are legal residents of the Kingdom, were allowed to own a single property in the Kingdom.
Aug. 15: Spain saw its highest temperature on record as a heatwave on the Iberian peninsula drove the mercury to 47.4 degrees Celsius (117.3 degrees Fahrenheit).
Aug. 15: Afghan President Ashraf Ghani fled the country as the Taliban took over the capital Kabul without firing a single shot. According to senior Taliban commanders, their first armed group headed by Mullah Abdul Qayyum Zakir, entered the capital city and within a few hours, they seized control of the Arg — the Presidential Palace.
Aug. 15: Legendary German striker Gerd Mueller died at the age of 75.

1. On July 16, Pakistan’s ______-year old Haniya Minhas won the 14 & Under Sobir Cup Asian Tennis Federation Tournament.
   (a) 9 (b) 10
   (c) 11 (d) 12

2. On July 16, the United States, ______, Afghanistan and Pakistan announced a new Quad Regional Support group for Afghanistan peace process.
   (a) Kazakhstan (b) Russia
   (c) Uzbekistan (d) China

3. The two-day conference titled “Central and South Asia Regional Connectivity, Challenges and Opportunities,” was held in ______.
   (a) Tashkent (b) Dushanbe
   (c) Nur-Sultan (d) Islamabad

4. On July 17, the ______ cabinet decided to amend the police rules under which an accused could not be arrested without credible evidence.
   (a) Sindh (b) Punjab
   (c) KP (d) Balochistan

5. Former CM Sindh Sardar Mumtaz Ali Bhutto passed away on ______.
   (a) July 17 (b) July 18
   (c) July 19 (d) July 20

6. On July 18, ______ government launched ‘Library in Each Union Council’ project.
   (a) KP (b) Punjab
   (c) Sindh (d) Balochistan

7. The incumbent ombudsman of Balochistan is ______.
   (a) Nazar Mohammad Baloch
   (b) Syed Zahoor Agha
   (c) Jawaid Siddiqi (d) Dr Saima Yasin

8. On July 19, Ch. Moonis Elahi took oath as a federal minister for ______.
   (a) Interior (b) Industries
   (c) Defence (d) Water Resources

9. Noor Mukadam, the daughter of former diplomat Shaukat Mukadam, was murdered by Zahir Jaffar in Islamabad on ______.
   (a) July 20 (b) July 21
   (c) July 22 (d) July 23

10. Former caretaker minister for information and postal services and seasoned journalist Arif Nizami, who passed away recently was a ______ of Hameed Nizami, the founder of the Nawa-i-Waqt.
    (a) Brother (b) Nephew
    (c) Son (d) None of these

11. Elections to AJK Legislative Assembly were held on ______.
    (a) July 22 (b) July 23
    (c) July 24 (d) July 25

12. During the fiscal year 2020-21, the top export destination of Pakistani products was ______.
    (a) Germany (b) USA
    (c) UK (d) China

13. Foreign mountaineers, who were killed, along with Ali Sadpara, during an expedition to K2, were Iceland’s John Snorri and ______ Juan Pablo Mohr.
    (a) Chile’s (b) Romania’s
    (c) France’s (d) Iceland’s

14. The federal cabinet approved the country’s first National Cyber Security Policy on ______.
    (a) July 24 (b) July 25
    (c) July 26 (d) July 27

15. On July 27, Prime Minister Imran Khan appointed ______ the registrar of the Supreme Court.
    (a) Saad Rasool (d) Jawad Paul
    (c) Nilofar Kazmi (d) Ahsan Saleem

16. On July 27, 19-year-old ______ became the youngest person to summit the world’s second-highest mountain, K2.
    (a) Azad Hussain (b) Shehroze Kashif
    (c) Saman Baig (d) Hasan Sadpara

17. The youngest person ever to have scaled K2 and Mt. Everest is ______.
    (a) Hasan Sadpara (b) Shehroze Kashif
    (c) Samina Baig (d) M. Ali Sadpara

18. On July 28, former CM Sindh Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim was appointed Special Assistant to Prime Minister on ______ affairs.
    (a) Economic (b) Political
    (c) Provincial (d) Sindh

19. On July 28, ______ and Pakistan announced to forge collaboration on addressing climate change to mitigate and adapt adverse impacts of environmental degradation.
    (a) China (b) Switzerland
    (c) USA (d) EU

20. On July 28, the Judicial Commission of Pakistan approved the elevation of Justice Mohammad Ali Mazhar, who was ______ on the seniority list of Sindh High Court, to the Supreme Court.
    (a) Fourth (b) Fifth
    (c) Sixth (d) Ninth

21. Adviser to PM Imran Khan on Institutional Reforms and Austerity, Dr Ishrat Husain, resigned on ______.
    (a) July 28 (b) July 29
    (c) July 30 (d) July 31

22. The current chairperson of the National Commission on the Status of Women is ______.
    (a) Hina Jillani (b) Nilofar Bakhtiar
    (c) Malaika Bokhari(d) Shireez Mazari

23. On Aug. 03, Al-Shifa Trust opened Asia’s biggest children eye hospital in ______ with a capacity of treating 150,000 children annually.
    (a) Lahore (b) Karachi
    (c) Hyderabad (d) Rawalpindi

24. On Aug. 03, PM Imran Khan appointed ______ his Special Assistant on CPEC Affairs, after Lt-Gen (retd) Asim Saleem Bajwa tendered his resignation as the Chairman CPEC Authority.
    (a) Khalid Mansoor(b) Shahzain Bugti
    (c) Javed Mengal (d) Dost M. Jamali

25. On Aug. 04, Sardar Abdul Qayyum Niazi was sworn in as the ______ prime minister of AJK.
    (a) 12th (b) 13th
    (c) 15th (d) 17th

26. Youm-e-Istehsal was observed in occupied Jammu and Kashmir, across Pakistan, Azad Jammu and Kashmir, and various parts of the world on ______.
    (a) Aug. 01 (b) Aug. 02
    (c) Aug. 05 (d) Aug. 06

27. The inaugural Kashmir Premier League Twenty20 tournament kicked off on ______.
    (a) Aug. 06 (b) Aug. 07
    (c) Aug. 08 (d) Aug. 09

28. The current Chief Justice of Peshawar High Court is ______.
    (a) Qaiser Rashid Khan
    (b) Sahibzada Asadullah
    (c) Naeem Anwar (d) Wiqar Ahmad

29. On Aug. 09, Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail, erstwhile chief justice of ______ High Court, was sworn in as a judge of the Supreme Court.
    (a) Balochistan (b) Sindh
    (c) Lahore (d) Peshawar

30. On Aug. 09, PM Imran Khan inaugurated the world’s biggest Miyawaki urban forest in ______.
    (a) Murree (b) Lahore
    (c) Islamabad (d) Nathiagali

31. On ______, Pakistan Navy war game Shamsheer-i-Bahr VIII commenced in Karachi.
    (a) Aug. 07 (b) Aug. 08
    (c) Aug. 09 (d) Aug. 10

32. On Aug. 10, barring ______ with score of 0.421, Pakistan (0.517) was ranked lowest among all the regional and neighbouring countries on Youth Development Index.
    (a) Iraq (b) Afghanistan
    (c) North Korea (d) Iran

33. On Aug. 10, the ______ appointed Yong Ye to lead its operations in Pakistan and manage its Pakistan Resident Mission in Islamabad.
    (a) World Bank (b) IMF
    (c) UNICEF (d) ADB

34. On Aug. 10, CM Balochistan, Jam Kamal Khan Alyani, laid the foundation stone of the Winder Dam that will be built in ______ district of the province.
    (a) Quetta (b) Barkhan
    (c) Awaran (d) Lasbela

35. KP’s first visually impaired person recommended for the award of PhD degree is ______.
    (a) Habib Inqilab (b) Helena Saeed
    (c) Mushtaq Ahad (d) Nizar Barozai

36. On Aug. 12, Pakistan conducted a training launch of surface-to-surface ballistic missile ______.
    (a) Ababeel (b) Ghauri
    (c) Ghaznavi (d) Shaheen-V

37. On Aug. 12, PM Imran Khan inaugurated the Intercropping Research Center jointly established by Sichuan Agricultural University and the Islamia University of ______.
    (a) Islamabad (b) Peshawar
    (c) Charsadda (d) Bahawalpur

38. On Aug. 14, Pakistan became exporter of 4G smartphones when it sent its first-ever shipment tagged ‘Manufactured in Pakistan’ to ______.
    (a) Iran (b) Afghanistan
    (c) Saudi Arabia (d) UAE

39. On Aug. 15, the presidents of Pakistan and ______ participated in the launch of the first Milgem Class Corvette for Pakistan Navy.
    (a) Turkey (b) China
    (c) Ukraine (d) South Korea

40. The first woman to reach flag rank in the history of Police Service of Pakistan is ______.
    (a) Aisha Butt (b) Shahla Qureshi
    (c) Saima Shaheen (d) Helena I. Saeed

1. Prof. Dr Akira Miyawaki, a Japanese botanist and expert in plant ecology, specializing in seeds and the study of natural forests, died on ______.
(a) July 16 (b) July 17
(c) July 18 (d) July 19

1. On July 17, the United States, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and ______ set up an alliance Five-Plus-One work together to end the Afghan conflict.
   (a) Afghanistan (b) Uzbekistan
   (c) China (d) Pakistan

2. On ______, Afghanistan recalled its ambassador to Islamabad and other senior diplomats over “security threats”.
   (a) July 17 (b) July 18
   (c) July 19 (d) July 20

3. The current Foreign Minister of India is ______.
   (a) S. Jaishankar (b) Rajnath Singh
   (c) Piyush Goyal (d) Amit Shah

4. On July 19, French President Emmanuel Macron decorated veteran ______ civil rights activist Reverend Jesse Jackson with France’s highest order of merit, the Legion of Honour.
   (a) British (b) American
   (c) Swiss (d) Mexican

5. Sheikh Bandar Bin Abdulaziz Balila delivered Hajj sermon on _____, 2021.
   (a) July 17 (b) July 18
   (c) July 19 (d) July 20

6. On ______, the Olympic motto “Faster, Higher, Stronger” (Citius, Altius, Fortius) was updated to “Faster, Higher, Stronger — Together” (“Citius, Altius, Fortius — Communiter.”).
   (a) July 20 (b) July 21
   (c) July 22 (d) July 23

7. On July 20, Ariel Henry was appointed the new PM of ______.
   (a) Haiti (b) Mozambique
   (c) South Sudan (d) Latvia

8. On July 21, Liverpool was removed from the list of UNESCO World Heritage sites after being granted the title in______.
   (a) 2002 (b) 2004
   (c) 2006 (d) 2008

9. On July 21, US president Joe Biden authorized ______ from an emergency fund to meet the refugee needs which is stemming from the geo-political situation in Afghanistan.
   (a) US$ 90 m (b) US$ 95 m
   (c) US$100 m (d) US$ 200 m

10. On July 22, former UN rights chief ______ was appointed to lead the United Nations’ open-ended inquiry into “systematic” abuses in Israel and the Palestinian territories.
    (a) Louise Arbour (b) Navi Pillay
    (c) Mary Robinson (d) Raad Al Hussein

11. On ______, Chinese President Xi Jinping reached China’s politically sensitive region of Tibet on a rare trip.
    (a) July 23 (b) July 24
    (c) July 25 (d) July 26

12. On July 23, a majority of lawmakers in ______ parliament voted to abolish the death penalty.
    (a) Kenya’s (b) Sierra Leone’s
    (c) Kuwait’s (d) Qatar’s

13. On July 23, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres appointed Mohammad Ashfaq Ahmed of ______ the member of the Committee of Experts on International Cooperation in Tax Matters for a term of 04 years.
    (a) Afghanistan (b) Pakistan
    (c) India (d) Bangladesh

14. The Tokyo Summer Olympics 2020 officially opened on ______.
    (a) July 22, 2021 (b) July 23, 2021
    (c) July 24, 2021 (d) July 25, 2021

15. On July 25, ______ opened its first underwater museum in Aegean Sea.
    (a) Turkey (b) Greece
    (c) Bulgaria (d) Serbia

16. On July 25, Otelo Saraiva de Carvalho, architect of the so-called Carnation Revolution in______, died aged 84.
    (a) Portugal (b) France
    (c) Argentina (d) Norway

17. On July 25, ______ President Kais Saied suspended parliament and dismissed PM Hichem Mechichi.
    (a) Ethiopian (b) Tunisian
    (b) Lebanese (c) Libyan

18. On July 26, Lebanese lawmakers tasked ex-premier ______ with forming a government.
    (a) Saad Hariri (b) Najib Mikati
    (c) Hassan Diab (d) Fouad Siniora

19. On July 26, Danielle Collins of ______ became the WTA’s 14th first time champion of 2021.
    (a) USA (b) Switzerland
    (c) Australia (d) Norway

20. On July 27, ______ Chinchorro mummies, the oldest in the world to have been purposefully preserved by humans, were added to UNESCO’s World Heritage List.
    (a) Egypt’s (b) Nigeria’s
    (c) Chile’s (d) Haiti’s

21. On ______, US President Joe Biden and Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi sealed an agreement formally ending the US combat mission in Iraq by the end of 2021.
    (a) July 25 (b) July 26
    (c) July 27 (d) July 28

22. On July 28, ______ swore in new President Pedro Castillo, a leftist former teachers’ union leader.
    (a) Finland (b) Haiti
    (c) Iceland (d) Peru

23. On July 29, Russia fined ______ over $40,000 for failing to store the data of Russians users on local servers.
    (a) Facebook (b) Twitter
    (c) Google (d) Yahoo

24. On ______, a top-level Taliban delegation visited China.
    (a) July 28 (b) July 29
    (c) July 30 (d) July 31

25. On July 31, President Joe Biden appointed Pakistani-American lawyer Khizr Khan the commissioner for the US Commission on ______.
    (a) Human Rights (b) Civil Rights
    (c) Evidence-based Policymaking
    (d) International Religious Freedom

26. On Aug. 01, Ismail Haniya was re-elected as leader of ______.
    (a) Al-Fatah (b) Al-Muqawama
    (c) Hamas (d) PLO

27. On Aug. 01, Myanmar’s junta chief announced that elections would be held in______.
    (a) August 2022 (b) August 2023
    (c) August 2024 (d) August 2025

28. On Aug. 01, India took over the presidency of the United Nations Security Council from ______ for the month of August.
    (a) China (b) UAE
    (c) France (d) Maldives

29. On Aug. 02, ______ Andrew Hoy became the oldest medallist at the Olympics since 1968.
    (a) Australia’s (b) Poland’s
    (c) Canada’s (d) New Zealand’s

30. On Aug. 03, over 17,000 looted ancient artefacts recovered from the United States and other countries were handed over to ______.
    (a) Iraq (b) Libya
    (c) Syria (d) Afghanistan

31. New Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi was sworn in on ______, though he officially began his four-year mandate on Aug. 03.
    (a) Aug. 04 (c) Aug. 05
    (c) Aug. 06 (d) Aug. 07

32. On Aug. 06, ______ clinched their first-ever Twenty20 international series win over Australia.
    (a) Afghanistan (b) Bangladesh
    (c) New Zealand (d) West Indies

33. The Tokyo 2020 Games were declared closed by IOC chief Thomas Bach on ______.
    (a) Aug. 06 (b) Aug. 08
    (c) Aug. 09 (d) Aug. 10

34. On Aug. 09, the IPCC issued its ______ Assessment Report whereby it said that drastic cuts to emissions are needed in order to hold the global temperature to under 1.5°C.
    (a) Fourth (b) Fifth
    (c) Sixth (d) Seventh

35. On Aug. 10, ______ and the United States signed an agreement on monsoon data analysis and cooperation.
    (a) Bangladesh (b) India
    (c) Saudi Arabia (d) Qatar

36. On Aug. 11, Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi presented his cabinet to parliament, nominating ______ as his top diplomat.
    (a) Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf
    (b) Esmail Khatib
    (c) Hossein Amirabdollahian
    (d) Hossein Mirzaei

37. On Aug. 13, the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (QUAD) included ______ straight in talks.
    (a) South Korea (b) Malaysia
    (c) Taiwan (d) Hong Kong

38. On ______, Taliban’s first armed group, headed by Mullah Abdul Qayyum Zakir, entered Kabul and seized the control of the Afghan Presidential Palace.
    (a) Aug. 12 (b) Aug. 13
    (c) Aug. 14 (d) Aug. 15

39. Cellphone malware Pegasus has been developed by a private ______ firm NSO.
    (a) Israeli (b) British
    (c) Canadian (d) American